Friendships are very important to mental fitness. Working on developing and maintaining friendships is one of the best ways to continue growing as a person. Expressing feelings and ideas to another person can help us clarify what’s truly important to ourselves. Nurture your sense of humor, both with friends and especially about yourself. Trying to see the humorous side of things makes even the most difficult situations easier to bear. Laughter is good medicine. Being too serious limits your ability to enjoy life.

Smoking and alcohol abuse (also known as binge drinking if you have more than four drinks in a sitting) are two very common habits that are easy to pick up in college, and that, if you're not careful, can remain with you throughout life. When you're young, you have a generalized sense of immortality. Your young body seems to bounce back from just about anything, short of a nuclear blast. But rest assured, your habits will catch up with you. College students drink an estimated 430 million gallons of alcohol yearly. That's enough to fill an Olympic-size pool for each college and university in the United States. Unfortunately, as many as 360,000 of the nation's 12 million undergraduates will ultimately die from alcohol-related causes.

Drinking caffeinated beverages, watching scary or thrilling movies, or listening to upbeat music right before going to bed are surefire ways to guarantee you'll be lying awake an hour later. Right before bed, try some relaxation time, during which you concentrate on breathing regularly and deeply, listen to calming music, pray, meditate, and take time to clear your mind of worries that will distract you as you try to get to sleep.

You can also sip some Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime, or Sleepytime Extra (with valerian), while reading in bed to put you in the mood for sleep. Also, take four capsules of Twinlab's Calcium Citrate plus magnesium before bedtime; if you are taking the Multi Minerals, reduce these to two a day while you are taking the Calcium Citrate. As long as you're not going above the Recommended Daily Allowance of calcium (unless specified to do so by your physician), extra calcium and magnesium should help your muscles relax, which will help you fall asleep, without any side effects.

A solid support system is important for anyone trying to lose weight - especially a teen. In this video, Drs. Roizen. Oz, and Rome give some inspiring words of advice for those who don't have a support system to encourage them.